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  #1   IP: 216.115.121.240
Old 04-22-2012, 05:18 PM
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lat 64 lat 64 is offline
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Just say "WHEW!"

Went to the boat this week to fix all kinds of undone chores.
I decided to re-commission the engine for summer. Before starting, I looked it over pretty good—what a save that was. I noticed a little green antifreeze on the engine bed under the carb. I looked around and saw coolant dripping out of the choke plate shaft. What the#&*!!. So I pulled of the air horn and about half a cup of coolant spilled out. "This is bad news" I said(not really what I said).
Sitting and thinking the worst ie. blown head gasket, cracked block, etc., in my mind I was getting ready to start pulling off the manifold. I picked up a screwdriver and stared to loosen a hose clamp–the one that is on the hose from the t-stat housing. It turned way too easy. I said "hmmm?"(not really what I said).
I got a bottle of water and dripped it on the hose right at the clamp. I watched the water track down and over and drip off the manifold right where it would drop into the flame arrester on the carb air horn. It also had a second track that went on back and down to the carb flange. This second track is how I discovered the loose carburator bolt—the threads were stripped.
So I finally installed the MMI PCV spacer plate that I had still in the bag, and used the longer studs to through-bolt the carb to the manifold. I put 'er back together and had it running in two revolutions of cranking with full choke. That's after it had sat since October. No brag just fact.

The moral to this story is that if I had just given in to temptation and tried to crank it up with out looking carefully at the engine, I would have missed the evidence of the hose clamp leak. It would have sucked coolant into the engine cylinders and it would have taken a good deal of effort to get started after that. I also would most likely miss-diagnosed the source of the antifreeze and spent way too much time in a funk and maybe even torn down a perfectly good sealed head gasket. I do think I would have gone for the pressure test first, but still, what a drag the whole week would have been.

Who says staring at an engine won't fix it!

I got my new gas tank in and fixed a hundred things last week that were actually broken. I hope someone else can learn from this.

Happy spring all,
Russ
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"Since when is napping doing nothing?"
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  #2   IP: 24.74.202.154
Old 04-22-2012, 05:53 PM
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Marian Claire Marian Claire is offline
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Whew and a good eye. Well done Lat. Dan S/V Marian Claire
So what did you really say?
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  #3   IP: 108.4.61.32
Old 04-22-2012, 06:33 PM
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ILikeRust ILikeRust is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Marian Claire View Post
So what did you really say?
Oooh! Oooh! Lemme guess!!

Uh... the first word was "Oh," right?
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Old 04-22-2012, 07:34 PM
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Thumbs up

Hi Russ,
Gave you your first tick in the helpful post cat.....LOL. For as long as you've been kicking around here you have relatively few posts....but when you have something to say it's all good stuff.
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Old 04-22-2012, 07:46 PM
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Russ - Nice save! And yeah, there is a lot to be said for staring at an engine and thinking before acting.
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Old 04-22-2012, 07:56 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Marian Claire View Post
Whew and a good eye. Well done Lat. Dan S/V Marian Claire
So what did you really say?
Well, maybe "darn"?!

Russ, I love it when we can learn the 'simple' lessons!
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Old 04-22-2012, 09:49 PM
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Good catch Russ.

I've a good idea what you really said and I'd bet that Bill T. is damned close.

I also love your signature line: "Since when is napping doing nothing?" where the "napping" could be replaced with "blankly staring and poking at engine".

"Since when is surfing the web doing nothing?" - damned close.
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  #8   IP: 216.115.121.240
Old 04-22-2012, 11:32 PM
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If it ain't broke...

What I said was...[this post was edited for content]

Thanks all, she's a runner now!

r
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Whiskeyjack a '68 Columbia 36 rebuilt A-4 with 2:1

"Since when is napping doing nothing?"

Last edited by lat 64; 04-22-2012 at 11:36 PM.
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Old 04-22-2012, 11:39 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CalebD View Post
I've a good idea what you really said and I'd bet that Bill T. is damned close.

I also love your signature line: "Since when is napping doing nothing?" where the "napping" could be replaced with "blankly staring and poking at engine".

"Since when is surfing the web doing nothing?" - damned close.
If a person doesn't believe a nap will help things, they should close their eyes and try to imagine it.

ZZZZZZZZZ
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Whiskeyjack a '68 Columbia 36 rebuilt A-4 with 2:1

"Since when is napping doing nothing?"
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Old 04-23-2012, 07:46 AM
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Well that's just [expletive deleted] great!
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Old 04-23-2012, 08:53 AM
Dave Neptune Dave Neptune is offline
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Thumbs up Nice

Russ, did you tip your hat and drink a toast to hte beastie after saving the day? I think there may be a good lesson in this post regarding patience and a thorough investigation or perhaps an "A-S-I" award.

Dave Neptune
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Old 04-23-2012, 08:58 AM
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Russ:

The notion of creating a leak and then following it was one of those simple, but brilliant ideas.

Way to go!

Bill
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Old 04-23-2012, 11:34 AM
JOHN COOKSON JOHN COOKSON is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lat 64 View Post
Who says staring at an engine won't fix it!
Happy spring all,
Russ
Boat engine inspection is a monthly maintenance chore for me.

TRUE GRIT
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  #14   IP: 216.115.121.240
Old 04-23-2012, 11:55 AM
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It's not what you know, but who taught you in the first place.
I think I can trace this type of engine looking to one of my first jobs as a lacky for a Mercedes mechanic I worked with in the 70s. He told me to never assume oil will only drip down when you look for leaks. Sometimes it would creep up on rough aluminum castings, follow along seams by capillary action, then show up as a "leak" in a completely different spot. Antifreeze gets all over the place too.

An old boat will train you in this philosophy. My deck seams always have stains, and my boat has a liner; so the condensation and leaks never show where they start. It's like playing whack-a-mole to find them.

You all have shown me that the old water pumps on these A-4s are a good place to hold my horses when looking for the source of:
A); water in oil
B); oil in water
Both are tragic in some cases, but could be just a bad seal in the water pump.


From Wkipedia:

Occam's razor (also written as Ockham's razor, Latin lex parsimoniae) is the law of parsimony, economy or succinctness. It is a principle urging one to select among competing hypotheses that which makes the fewest assumptions and thereby offers the simplest explanation of the effect.

The principle is often summarized as "other things being equal, a simpler explanation is better than a more complex one." In practice, the application of the principle often shifts the burden of proof in a discussion.[1] The razor asserts that one should proceed to simpler theories until simplicity can be traded for greater explanatory power. The simplest available theory need not be most accurate. Philosophers point out also that the exact meaning of simplest may be nuanced.[

Put that in your pipe,

R
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Whiskeyjack a '68 Columbia 36 rebuilt A-4 with 2:1

"Since when is napping doing nothing?"

Last edited by lat 64; 04-24-2012 at 11:55 AM. Reason: proofread
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Old 04-23-2012, 07:40 PM
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Uhh

I think I'll just sit and stare at that post for a while...
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Old 04-24-2012, 11:57 AM
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Yea, I'm walking around looking for opportunities to say "parsimony" to any poor chump in hearing.
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Whiskeyjack a '68 Columbia 36 rebuilt A-4 with 2:1

"Since when is napping doing nothing?"
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Old 04-24-2012, 03:50 PM
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Nice Job! I love it when some one thinks their way through a problem : )
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coolant leak, head gasket, manifold

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